Wai Whare departed Silva Bay around 10am on Tuesday June 14. We exited at the north end of Commodore’s passage into 6 foot waves dead on the bow. Darusha braved the seas to bring up the sails while Steven worried back at the helm. We turned towards Vancouver only to find travel very uncomfortable with the waves on our beam. Luckily we discovered that the correct course had the waves hitting our portside stern corner, which made travel much more comfortable once we changed to that course.

In our minds we had built Georgia Straight into some sort of serious trial of our sailing skills, so we were pleased to discover that the same laws of physics apply there as everywhere else. The winds and waves eased all day long, and we ended up sunbathing and using our new cell phone to pass away a quiet afternoon.

Vancouver is interesting to sail into. At first, you can only see the Mountains at North Vancouver and Bowen Island. Then Point Grey (UBC) comes into view but you’re not sure what it is. They you can see this overpass somewhere in NorthVan. A couple hours later you can make out buildings in NorthVan, but you’re almost in English Bay before you can see downtown. And once you’re in English Bay you have a delightful hour of seeing all the buildings get bigger as you try to find the entrance to False Creek.

We stayed at the False Creek Harbour Authority. It was recommended by a friend who works at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (hi Andrew!). It is a working dock, which means that the boats aren’t nicely polished and it isn’t populated by millionares. There is no hottub, but the showers are fine. And it is dirt cheap (C$0.80/foot) and immediately adjancent to Granville Island!

Needless to say we enjoyed our stay in Vancouver, and all too soon we had to leave.